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In 2024, for the third straight year, the median size of a new single-family home in the U.S. has shrunk, to 2,150 square feet. That’s down from nearly 2,500 square feet back in 2013, and startlingly close to the roughly 2,100 square foot average seen in 2009 at the depth of the global financial crisis. It’s a downsizing that underscores just how hard it is for most people to afford to buy a home today, and the extent to which homebuilders are adjusting their offerings to meet demand. This telling figure comes from The State of the Nation’s Housing, an annual report just released by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. The report finds that affordability challenges are reshaping the housing market, right down to the square footage. Homebuilders are able to make adjustments to meet demand where it is, and what it’s showing is that there’s demand for lower-cost units, says Daniel McCue, a senior research associate at the Joint Center for Housing Studies. Buyers look like they’re willing to buy slightly smaller homes in order to be able to afford them, given that prices have risen so high over the past three, four, five years, and interest rates remain relatively high as well. Since 2019, average home prices have risen more than 60%, according to the report. Historically, that average has been skewed by the cost of new homes, which tended to be more expensive than existing homes. But that gap is narrowing. In the 2010s, the typical new single-family home was about $66,000 more expensive than the median sales price of an existing home, McCue says. In 2024, the typical new home cost only about $8,000 more. I take that as a reaction to the lack of inventory and the tightness of existing housing sales markets, McCue says. Part of this price drop has been engineered by homebuilders themselves. McCue says many builders are trying to help buyers by offering more favorable interest rates and interest-rate buydowns through their own mortgage companies. They’re able to make some adjustments, and in doing so, we’re seeing the price points of new homes coming down to make those sales happen, McCue says. In addition to reducing the size of U.S. homes, these efforts have had some impact. New home sales in 2024 were up about 3% over 2023, and existing home sales have dropped to a 30-year low. [Homebuilders] have been able to kind of buck the trend by making these hard-fought gains in affordability, McCue says. But with interest rates hovering above 6% and a general sense of economic uncertainty tied to the Trump Administration’s trade policies, whether sales of new homes will continue to rise is unclear. One of the themes looking forward is how much of these adjustments, and how much of these hard-fought gains will be upended by rising costs due to tariffs, he says. Another way the shape of housing is changing is in growing numbers of townhomes on the market. The report found that in 2024, builders started 176,000 townhomes, a 59% increase compared to 2019. It’s one example of the way in which buyers and builders are focusing on products that are relatively more affordable, given the affordability constraints, McCue says. Those constraints don’t look to be going away any time soon, and that’s created a separate but connected boom in the housing market. According to the report, about 93,000 single-family rental homes were started in 2024, which is the highest number on record and more than double the 40,000 rental units started in 2019. As homeownership gets farther and farther out of reach for many Americans, homebuilders appear ready to build rental homes they can afford.
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E-Commerce
In the 2018 comedy Tag, a group of childhood friends maintains an offbeat line of connection over 30 years of friendship: the same game of tag, played through weddings, boardrooms, and hospital visits. Its absurd and touching all at once. But the line that echoes throughout the film is where the real wisdom lies: We dont stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. That quote isnt just a nostalgic sentiment. Its a reframing of adulthood itself. What if the erosion of joy, curiosity, and spontaneity is what ages us, not the passage of time, but the loss of lightness? In my work with leaders and teams, I have observed that when we abandon play, we not only lose levity but also access to resilience, creativity, and connection. And in todays workplace, thats a cost we cant afford. Why Play Still Matters Play isnt a childhood indulgence; its a neurological need. When we play, we downshift stress, rewire our thinking, and reopen channels of collaboration. Play functions on two powerful levels: as a circuit-breaker and a spark plug. As a circuit-breaker, it interrupts the relentless mental loops of stress, perfectionism, and overanalysis, disrupting burnout before it calcifies. As a spark plug, it reenergizes our minds, jolts us out of habitual thinking, and ignites new ideas we didnt know we had. Whether its a burst of laughter, a sideways brainstorming prompt, or a spontaneous creative detour, play restores our capacity to be present, inventive, and connected. Research confirms it. Studies from Texas A&M and the University of Massachusetts Boston show that even micro-moments of play increase productivity, creativity, and psychological safety. Play lowers cortisol levels, boosts problem-solving skills, and fosters trust across teams. In essence, play isnt the opposite of work: its a critical ingredient for doing it well. From Micro-Moments to Macro Shifts At a biotech leadership retreat I recently facilitated, we started with a playful micro-recess, including paper airplane races, a five-minute dance party, and a round of ridiculous icebreaker questions. What could have felt like a boring corporate event quickly turned into something more real. People opened up, walls came down, and over the course of the day, that energy translated into richer strategy sessions, unexpected insights, and measurable engagement boosts, which increased by 30% in post-event surveys. Thats not magicits intentional play at work. Play doesnt waste time; it reshapes how time is experienced. Rather than a rigid framework, think of these as three open invitations to shift how you show up that create the conditions for play to thrive. 1. Permission to be unpolished In many leadership environments, perfectionism masquerades as professionalism. But perfection is the enemy of possibility. Play creates psychological permission to show up unpolished. It softens the need to perform and invites people to explore. Try starting a meeting not with status updates, but with curiosity: Whats something weird or wonderful that inspired you this week? When the mask comes off, the mind opens up. 2. Reframe the agenda Play doesnt have to mean ping-pong tables or off-site scavenger hunts. Sometimes its as simple as reframing the purpose of a meeting from decision-making to idea-surfacing. Swap PowerPoints for paper prototyping. Add 90 seconds of creative reflection before moving into action steps. Break rhythm to unlock insight. 3. Honor the absurd Not all brilliance is born in seriousness. Some of the most profound breakthroughs come from absurd beginnings. The most innovative teams I have worked with know how to follow a thread of ridiculousness to the edge of real insight. Celebrate the offbeat idea, the joke that hides a truth, the metaphor that doesnt quite make senseuntil it does. Designing Cultures of Play, Not Just Moments Its easy to treat play as a momentary tactica break between real work. But the most forward-thinking organizations embed it into their culture. They dont just tolerate it; they value it. That could mean incorporating play into onboarding, transforming retrospectives into storytelling circles, or designing workspaces that encourage movement and curiosity. These practices dont dilute performance; they actually fuel it. Were entering an era that prizes agility over efficiency, imagination over repetition, and emotional intelligence over sheer expertise. In that world, play becomes a strategic skill. It strengthens culture, enhances cognition, and helps prevent burnout. Most importantly, it reminds us that even in high-stakes environments, levity is not a luxury; its how we stay human. So if your next meeting feels dry, try something unexpected. Pause, play, and let a little laughter in. Because in a world that races to outcomes, those who stay playful often lead with more presence, more creativity, and, yes, more impact.
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E-Commerce
Want to save pages on the web for later? You could always bookmark them in your browser of choice, of course. But thats a quick way to end up with a messy bookmarks toolbar. And organizing your browsers bookmarks isnt exactly a pleasant experience. Services like Pocket solved this problem in their own way, letting you save a collection of things you wanted to read laterand organize that collection. Mozilla bought Pocket back in 2017, and the company is now shutting the service down in the coming weeks. So what if your browsers bookmark manager wasnt just a list of web pages? What if it was a beautiful and powerful way to collect and organize the things you find online? Thats the vision behind Raindrop.io, an all-in-one bookmark manager with a swanky interface. Its just an all-around upgrade to the bookmark experience if you want to do anything more than save a few pages for later. Its a great replacement for Pocket, too, with the same basic concept in an even more focused and productive environment. Raindrop.io was even included in the Fast Company “26 Best New Apps of 2020” roundup. It’s actually been around even longer, but an update that year revamped the service substantially and brought it more into the form it maintains today. Psst: If you love these types of tools as much as I do, check out my free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. You’ll be the first to find all sorts of simple tech treasures! Raindrop.io has a wide collection of apps, including: A browser extension to easily save pages in browsers like Google Chrome A powerful web interface Mobile apps for Android, iPhone, and iPad And desktop apps for Windows PCs, Macs, and Linux systems, too If youre using Raindrop.io on the web, you just need to sign up for a free account and install the browser extension. Then, with two clicks from your browsers toolbar, you can save anything on the web to Raindrop.io. Saving an article into Raindrop takes no more than a couple quick clicks (or taps, on a mobile device). The Raindrop.io interface is moderncomplete with thumbnails, web page descriptions, and optional tags, folder, and filters. You can go deep and set up all kinds of collections to organize web pages so your bookmarks arent a mess. Raindrop’s collections are an easy way to keep your saved stuff organized. While Raindrop.io is a slick bookmarks manager, its alsocriticallya convenient and effective way to read things that you’ve saved later down the road. With the Preview option, you can open a bookmarked page right in Raindrop.io without having to hop over to your browser. Previewing a page in Raindrop lets you read it right then and there, in a nicely optimized form and without ever having to exit the app. If all of this sounds interesting, whether you’re looking for a Pocket replacement or you’re just ready for a new way to hang onto interesting info for later reading, give it a try! All the basic features you need are completely free with unlimited bookmarks, collections, and devicesand not even any ads, either. There is a $3-per-month Pro plan that adds extra features like full-text search for your bookmarks, permanent archiving of the page content (so you can see them even if theyre taken off the web) along with daily backups, a broken link finder, and AI suggestions. It’s a nice upgrade, if you decide you like the experience and want those extras, but you definitely dont need that to enjoy Raindrop.io at its most basic level. Raindrop.io is available on the web and with apps and extensions for every big platform. Raindrop.io is free without advertising. A $3 per month Pro subscription adds a variety of bonus features. The developer says Raindrop.io does not sell any user data. Ready for more productivity-boosting goodness? Check out my free Cool Tools newsletter for an instant introduction to an incredible audio appand another off-the-beaten-path gem in your inbox every Wednesday!
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E-Commerce
On the second and third floors of New York Citys International Center of Photography (ICP), a collection of over 40 years worth of Edward Burtnyskys vision of industrial, human impact on the planet will be displayed throughout the summer. Its Burtnyskys first solo, NYC institutional exhibition show in over 20 years, and is more or lessan ode to his lifes work. [Photo: courtesy International Center of Photography] From some of his earliest work in the 80s as a student on the upper level, to his newer, larger scaled work on the lower, each piece represents the development of human industry through a concerned photography lens. [Photo: courtesy International Center of Photography] All the work kind of pokes around into those zones of globalism and as well as the need for materials, and looking at our population growth, Burtynysky says. I was born in 1955 when the world population was under 3 billion people and now we’re over 8 billion. I kind of knew then that we were talking about a human population explosion. Mines #13, Inco – Abandoned Mine Shaft, Crean Hill Mine, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, 1984 [Photo: Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York] While studying photography in 1981, Burtynsky was working in big industry to put himself through school. There, he said he decided to focus on big industries like oil and cobalt mining, and define them through photography. Regardless of place or subject, he says he wanted to focus on one continuous idea our impact on the world. Breezewood, Pennsylvania, USA, 2008 [Photo: Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York] The works range in location and anthropogenic effect. From large, aerial views of chain restaurants and gas companies on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to up-close portraits of recycling workers in China, Burtynskys work is meant to feel human and appear visually cinematic. [Photo: courtesy International Center of Photography] According to David Campany, ICPs creative director and curator of the show, these photos are not the kind meant to be viewed on a smartphone. I think when you go to the cinema, you’re part of a slightly more collective consciousness, and I think it’s the same when people stand and look at big images, Campany says. [Photo: courtesy Internatinal Center of Photography] The larger scale allows the viewer to get lost in the details within the bigger picture, like being able to look at dusty orange landscapes with sleek linesbut backing up and realizing its a commercial road in the middle of the desert. The show brings together around 70 images of Burtynskys work, and create a survey of the last 45 years of environmental impact. In turn, it makes people look closely at the negative human effect and how each image is interconnected to the larger idea. You might look at that picture of a mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Central Africa and think that’s got nothing to do with me, but 70% of the world’s cobalt currently comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Campany says. And when you put your hand in your pocket [and feel for your smartphone], you’ve suddenly got a very intimate connection with that image on the wall. Although theres no specific method or direction to view or engage with the work, each piece is generally meant to hold equal value when it comes to lighting and subject matter importance. Burtynsky refers to this as the democratic distribution of light and space. For him, it allows the viewer to fall into the surface of the image itself. [Photo: courtesy International Center of Photography] In 1981, which was my student work, I was looking at our relationship with nature containing nature, controlling nature, greenhouses,and large industrial farms, Burtynsky says. Even back then, I realized farming was our biggest impact in the planet, and it’s kind of makes sense to have a farming as a central image for the exhibition. Despite the works spanning decades of his travels and anthropogenic view, they are all embedded with what he says is a sense of aesthetic, wonder, and impact. Shipbreaking #49, Chittagong, Bangladesh, 2001 [Photo: Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York] Shipbreaking work was some of the most incredible locations I’ve ever photographed and experienced, Burtynsky says. It still stands as one of the most crazy experiences of my life. The pictures that came out of that were sort of wild, and [the one you see when] you come out of the elevator where you see all the menit’s like being greeted by the other world that deals with our shit. In addition to Burtynskys show, ICP is also showing Panjereh, meaning window in Farsi, from Iranian-American artist Sheida Soleimani. The exhibition emphasizes her Ghostwriter series, where she explores her parents’ experiences of political exile and migration through layered, magically surreal pieces. Both exhibits can be viewed simultaneously at the ICP. from June 19 until September 28.
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E-Commerce
It doesn’t matter how you spell ithomophones can get you sued for trademark infringement. The startup iyO has filed suit for trademark infringement against former Apple designer Jony Ive’s company iowhich spells its name differently but sounds the same. OpenAI acquired Ive’s io last month for $6.5 billion with the goal of creating a new family of AI devices; iyO, which launched as an independent company from Google’s moonshot initiative X in 2021, makes an AI device of its own. The company describes its iyO One, an AI wearable worn like an earbud that’s available only as a preorder, as “the world’s first audio computer.” It reportedly pitched to Sam Altman’s investment fund and Ive’s design studio in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Following a ruling from U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson, OpenAI erased any mention of its deal with Ive over io on its website Sunday, including a promotional video. The company told The Guardian it took action because of iyO’s legal complaint, which will be addressed in a hearing come October. This page is temporarily down due to a court order following a trademark complaint from iyO about our use of the name io. We dont agree with the complaint and are reviewing our options.https://t.co/suwMRPTHqB— OpenAI Newsroom (@OpenAINewsroom) June 22, 2025 OpenAI has reason to take iyO’s claims seriously. Trademark infringement has been found in plenty of cases in which defendants mark is spelled differently from plaintiffs but pronounced the same, even when the two terms have different meanings, Alexandra Roberts, a professor of law and media at Northeastern University tells Fast Company. The key question in infringement cases is likelihood of confusion. The singer Pink filed suit last year over Pharrell Williams’s proposed P.Inc trademark, for example, and infringement has been found in cases like Seycos and Seiko, both watchmakers, and X-Seed and XCEED, which both made agricultural seed. Courts assessing the likelihood of confusion between two marks consider a number of factors, including the similarity of the marks, relatedness of the goods and services, strength of the plaintiff’s mark, and sophistication of the relevant consumers, Roberts says. Similarity weighs toward a likelihood of confusion, and lack of similarity weighs against it. The I/O naming convention, which stands for Input/Output, is popular with AI companies since their products generate AI output from user input. For iyO, blocking OpenAI from using the io name is about protecting its brand against the combined power of the maker of ChatGPT and a designer who’s worked with Apple on products like the iPhone and iPad. The outcome of the legal dispute could play a role in naming whatever the AI giant and design legend end up creating together.
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E-Commerce
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